


The Old North Star

by Muccamukk



Category: Band of Brothers
Genre: Aldbourne, Canon Era, Episode: s01e01 Currahee, Gen, Introspection, Loneliness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 22:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18019802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muccamukk/pseuds/Muccamukk
Summary: Walking back to his billet, he keeps pausing to look up at the sky and search for familiar shapes.





	The Old North Star

**Author's Note:**

> Written for HBO War Week Day One. Prompt: Isolation.

Blackout regulations bring kind of dark Dick only used to see on hunting trips in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Walking back to his billet, he keeps pausing to look up at the sky and search for familiar shapes. The summer triangle is already high, and he picks out the eye of the Eagle. Like Polaris, it's higher than Dick's used to. Nights like these, Aldbourne feels as though it could be a farming town in Lancaster County, if only it weren't ten degrees off.

Somewhere on a roof, Dick knows that old men and boys are sitting with binoculars, watching for the silhouettes of bomber wings crossing the stars.

Dick passes across from the Blue Boar, where Nix and Harry are presumably making as much as they can out of a Friday night. The door opens, and Dick frowns at the square of golden light and the burst of music and laughter that shatter the night.

The figure stumbling out isn't Nix, but the new lieutenant, Compton, with one arm over Toye's shoulder, and the other half supporting Malarkey.

Toye's singing an Irish song full throat and off key. Malarkey counters with "Blueberry Hill," closer to the tune, and Dick can hear Guarnere's staccato laughter behind them. Their faces all shine with laughter until Compton kicks the door shut, and the street falls back into darkness, if not silence. They turn the opposite way, Compton telling the others to shut up as they go, which only increases the volume of caterwauling.

Dick stands in the shadows and listen until their voices fade. He tells himself that he doesn't envy Compton's easy friendship with the men. Dick doesn't need to be liked, just respected. Officers and soldiers aren't meant to be buddies. Compton treating his platoon like his football team could lead to trouble later. Dick doesn't drink anyway.

An echo of a song rises over the village when all three of them join in on "When You Wish Upon a Star."

Battalion will hear about this in the morning, not that Sink will care. Not with the big jump so soon. Not when this could be the last time they all sing together.

Dick could go into the pub, find Nix and bully him into helping Dick drag Harry back to their billet. He could feel Nix's whiskey soaked breath warm on his cheek, and...

No, Dick should let them have their fun.

Keeping the north star on his right, he walks away from the Blue Boar until those voices, too, dissolve into the night.


End file.
